Sri Lanka in joint bid with Bangladesh, Pakistan to host ICC events

Marlon Samuels celebrates West Indies winning the T20 World Cup at the R. Premadasa Stadium in 2012, the last occasion Sri Lanka hosted an ICC world event

By Sa’adi Thawfeeq

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has said that they have applied to be co-host of a Twenty20 World Cup along with Sri Lanka and an ODI World Cup alongside Pakistan and Sri Lanka as the International Cricket Council (ICC) invited its members to submit preliminary technical proposal as a potential host for events from 2024 to 2031.

“We are going in for joint bids for some of the events from 2024 to 2031,” said Sri Lanka Cricket CEO Ashley de Silva without specifying the events. “Altogether there are eight tournaments, two Champions Trophy events, two ODI World Cups and four T20 World Cups. We have shown interest for all eight events, we are not sure of getting all eight but may finish getting at least one or two events at the end of the day.

“The ICC wanted all the countries to show expressions of interest which we have done. After that they have shared the ITB (Invitation to Bids) with us and they also wanted all the countries to bid for it accordingly.”

The ICC after evaluating all the bids will take it up probably at their next board meeting and, after discussing it, will let the respective cricket boards know.

De Silva said that Sri Lanka were definitely looking forward to hosting some of the events.

Sri Lanka has not hosted an ICC world event since the T20 World Cup in 2012. They have jointly hosted two ODI World Cups with India and Pakistan in 1996, and with India and Bangladesh in 2011. In 2002, they hosted the Champions Trophy.  

Even during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic Sri Lanka has shown the cricket world that they are able to host international matches without any major issues. The country’s health protocols have been observed strictly by Sri Lanka Cricket which has enabled them to host tours by England, Bangladesh, India and South Africa this year, and also hold the inaugural Lanka Premier League (LPL) in November-December last year with the presence of several international cricketers, not to mention the support staff and television crews etc.

“The ICC is monitoring it, all that would be taken into consideration when they do the evaluation. They have a criteria of evaluating and they will let the respective boards know,” said De Silva.

Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan Papon has been quoted as saying that Bangladesh had the necessary stadiums to host an ICC Champions Trophy in the country all by themselves.

“We have submitted our proposal to host the ICC Champions Trophy individually because we think we have the sufficient number of stadiums to host the Champions Trophy solely. For the T20 World Cup, we jointly applied with Sri Lanka because the number of stadiums that we have is not enough to host this tournament. At the same time, for the ODI World Cup, we jointly applied with Pakistan and Sri Lanka,” Papon said.